Fly-frightener.



No. 785,968. I PATENTED MAR. 28, 1905. 1 T. J. MERRYMAN. FLY FRIGHTBNER.APPLICATION FILED DEC. 12, 1903 s mans-sum 1.

wihwooe? I gym/do KL W W? @MZQAEW No. 785,968. PATENTED MAR. 28, 1905 T.J. MERRYMAN.

FLY PRIGHTENER.

APPLIOATION FILED DIE-0.12, 190s ssngmssmm 3.

aktomwq Patented March 28, 1905.

PATENT OEEICE.

THOMAS J. MERRYMAN, OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA.

FLY-FRIGHTENEF'I.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 785,968, dated March28, 1905. Application filed December 12, 1903. Serial No. 184.934.

To all 1072,0772 it Duty concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. MERRYMAN, a citizen of the United States.residing at Lincoln, in the county of Lancaster and State of Nebraska,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in FlyFrighteners, ofwhich the following is a specification.

The object of the present invention is to provide for disturbing andfrightening flies away from doorways by the opening and closing of thedoors and to accomplish this result automatically without requiring anymanipulation of the means other than the opening and closing of thedoor. It is furthermore designed to provide for applying the presentapparatus to a doorway without altering or changing the door-frame andthe door in any manner whatsoever and without interfering with thecommon or ordinary operation of the door to open and close the same.

Another object of the invention is to provide for mounting thefly-frightening devices at both the side and the top of the doorway andto have a continuous operation thereof during the movement of the door.

With these and other objects in view the present invention consists inthe combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter morefully described, shown in the accompanying drawings,'and particularlypointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation, broken transversely, ofa door and doorframe having the apparatus of the present inventionapplied thereto. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view showing the doorpartly open. Fig. 3 is a detail perspectiveview showing the door openand a modified arrangement of operating means. Fig. 4 is a detailperspective view of a still further modified arrangement of theapparatus. Fig. 5 is an elevation of the upper portion of the door,showing a form of the apparatus wherein the weight is omitted. Fig. 6 isa detail plan view looking down upon the top edge of a door. Fig. 7 isanedge elevation of Fig. 5. Fig. 8 is a detail elevation of anothermodified arrangement of the apparatus.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in each andevery figure of the drawings.

In order that the application and operation of the present invention maybe adequately disclosed, I have shown in the accompanying drawings adoor-frame 1 and a door 2, hinged thereto in any common or preferredmanner.

By reference to Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, it will be noted thatan uprightrotatable shaft or rod 3 is applied to the free edge portion of the doorand journaled in upper and lower bearing-brackets 4L and 5. Extendingfrom top to bottom of the shaft is a double spiral 6, of wire, leather,or other suitable material, to produce wings, the movement of which isdesigned to scare away flies and other insects. It will of course beunderstood that the bearing-brackets 4 and 5 are projected outwardlyfrom the door a sufficient distance to permit rotation of the shaft,with its wings, without the latter striking against the door. A similarshaft 7 is mounted upon the door-frame adjacent to the free edge of thedoor and supported in brackets 8 and 9, as described for the shaft 3,and provided with similar spiral wings 10. On the upper ends of theshafts 3 and 7 are the grooved pulleys 11 and 12, respectively.

Above the door is a substantially horizontal shaft 13, mounted insuitable bearings 1+1 and 15 upon the door-frame and provided withdouble spiral wings 16, similar to those heretofore described. One ofthe journals of the horizontal shaft 13 is spring-actuated similar to anordinary spring-actuated window-shade roller and is furthermore providedupon that end portion which is adjacent to the free edge of the doorwith a spool, drum, or pulley 17.

For simultaneously actuating the three shafts a cord, chain, or othersuitable flexible device 18 has one end secured to and wound upon thedrum or spool of the horizontal shaft 13, with an intermediate portionengaging the pulleys l1 and 12. From the pulley 12 the cord passesdownwardly through a guide 19, applied to theadjacentwallor doorframe,preferably in the nature of a pulley,

and upon the lower free end of the cord is a suitable weight 20.

With the door closed, as in Fig. 1, and the weight at its lowest limitupon opening the door the weighted end of the cord will be drawnupwardly and across the pulley 12, thereby rotating the shaft 7. At thesame time the opposite end portion of the cord will be unwound from thedrum of the shaft 13, thereby rotating the latter, and the movement ofthe cord upon the pulley 11 will in turn rotate the shaft 3, whereforeit will be understood that all of the shafts will be rotated during theopening of the door and the swiftly-moving spiral wings will tend tofrighten away insects. \Vhen the door is .being closed, the weightdescends by gravity and the cord is rewound upon the spring-actuatedshaft 13, whereby a reverse rotation of all of the shafts will takeplace. Hence all of the rotating devices will be continuously actuatedduring the opening and closing of the door.

A modified arrangement of the apparatus has been shown in Fig. 3 of thedrawings, wherein the cord 21, which actuates the shaft 7 on thedoor-frame, has one end connected to the door, as at 22, while aseparate cord 23 has one end connected to the door-frame, as at 24,thence passes around the pulley of the shaft on the door, thence throughthe doorway to a pulley 25, hung from the top of the door-frame, fromwhich it depends and carries a weight 26. It will here be noted that theshaft 3 is carried upon the inner side of the door instead of at theouter side thereof. Of course the fastening 2e and the pulley 25 arelocated inwardly beyond the inner limit of the door, so as not tointerfere with the opening and closing thereof, and the pulley 25 islocated adjacent to the hinged edge of the door, so as not to obstructthe doorway.

In some instances it may not be desirable to operate the device acrossthe top of the door by means ofthe cord, and I have provided for thiscontingency by an arrangement shown in Fig. I of the drawings, whereinthe cord 18 operates the devices 3 and 7, as hereinbefore described, buthas its upper end secured to the top of a door-frame, as at 27. Insteadof employing a rotating device, as in Figs. 1 and 2, 1 have provided aswinging or oscillating device consisting of a bar 28, havingpendentwings 29, with its opposite ends connected to the free ends of coiled orinverted U shaped spring brackets 30, which have their other endsrigidly secured to thedoor-frame by means of suitable fastenings 31, asindicated in Fig. 6. A pendent trip projection 32 is carried by the bar28 and lies in the path of the top edge portion of the door, so thatwhen the door is pulled open it will strike the trip, and as it brushesby the same the free ends of the spring-brackets 30 will be forcedoutwardly, and as'soon as the door escapes from the trip the freeportions of the brackets will swing back and forth, and thereby operatethe bar 28 in a rapid manner. The same action takes place when the dooris being closed.

To obviate the use of cords and weights, I propose to employ thearrangement shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, wherein a spring-actuated bar28, similar to that shown in Fig. 4, is employed across the top of thedoor, and an upright bar 33 is carried by the free edge of the door witheach end connected to the free end of a spring-bracket 34 insubstantially the same manner as described for the bar 28. Upon theupper end portion of the upright bar 33 there is a lateral tripprojection 35, which normally lies back of a keeper 36, carried by thedoorframe, as best indicated in Fig. 6. By this arrangement when thedoor is opened the spririg-bracket 3 L will first be compressed,and whenthe trip 35 escapes from the keeper 36 the bracket will be freed and thebar 33 will be oscillated or swung back and forth. Instead of the formof wing indicated at 29 in Fig. L the spiral form 10 may be employedwith the swinging bars as well as with the rotating bar.

In Fig. 8 of the drawings there has been shown a modification of thearrangement illustrated in Fig. 2, wherein the shaft on the door hasbeen omitted. One end of the cord 18 is fastened to the upper outercorner of the door, as indicated at 37, while the intermediate portionof the cord is run through a guide or pulley 38, applied to thedoor-frame.

From the foregoing description it is apparent that the apparatus of thepresent invention is very simple in nature and is effective to frighteninsects away from the top and sides of a doorway without interferingwith the opening and closing of the door and without annoyance to theparty passing through the door. Moreover, in the forms employing thecord and weight the same tends to automatically close the door whenreleased in addition to actuating the oscillating devices.

While Ihave entered into various details in disclosing the invention,itwill of course be understood that changes in the form, proportion, size,and minor details may be made within the scope of the claims withoutdeparting from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of theinvention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed, and desired to besecured by Letters Patent, is

1. In a device of the class described, the combination with a door-frameand door,-of an insect-frightening device mounted on the doorframe, aninsect-frightening device mounted on the door, one of said devicesconsisting of a shaft, spiral wings arranged longitudinally of andsecured to the shaft, said wings having looped portions projecting onopposite sides of the shaft, and means for simultaneously operating thefrightening devices upon the opening of the door, said means having anengagement with the shaft for actuating the same.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with a door-frameand door, of a plurality of rotatable insect-frightening devices mountedone upon the door and the other upon the door-frame, and common meansfor simultaneously rotating said devices.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination with a door-frameand door, of a movable insect-frightening device separately mounted oneach, each of said devices including a rotary shaft having a pulley, anda single cable passing about the pulleys of both shafts and having amovable resistance at one end.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination with a door-frameand door, of an insect-frightening device mounted on the door-frame andincluding a vibratory shaft having a drum, another insect-frighteningdevice mounted on the door and including a shaft having a pulley, acable having one end wrapped upon the drum, said cable passing about thepulley, and a weight attached to the other end of the pulley.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination with a door-frameand door, of a shaft journaled along the top of the frame and havingwings secured thereto, an upright shaft journaled along one side of theframe and having Wings, a shaft journaled upon the door and havingwings, and a cable having a movable end, said cable passing about thevarious shafts to simultaneously operate the same when the door ismoved.

6. In a device of the class described, the combination with a door-frameand door, of movable insect frightening devices, one mounted upon thevertical side of the doorframe and outside thereof, and the othermounted upon the top of said door-frame and outside thereof, and acontinuous cable wound ground both said devices and attached to saidoor.

In testimony whereof I affiX my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS J. MERRYMAN.

Witnesses:

EMMA J. HEDGES, A. G. WOLFENBARG.

